Friday, June 27, 2014

After a day tour in Camiguin, it proved difficult to look for
dinner. I went around the city center and found a small restaurant.
They said Parola is a nice place to dine but then I knew of the place only when there was a couple who went in the resto and that was too late coz I had my first chew of the food I ordered.... After my dinner of chicken curry which was salty, I just
decided to call it a night and went to my hotel. I slept early so I can
go to the pier earlier. I've got this feeling that I'd miss my trip if
I'd go to bed late. And oh, I bought some pastels with me from
Camiguin.

The next day was quite fast. I went to the
city center again and asked around how to get to the pier. There was a
van and a jeep and I opted for the jeep. It looks like a worn out yet
sturdy vehicle. The ride took me for an hour and a half. It was crazy
because the fare was just twenty five pesos. I did not know which route
to take in the pier and obviously did not know which shipping company.
Hahahaha as I have said. I was having this vacation planning to get
lost maybe ? I asked around and found the boat for the trip. I waited
for 30 minutes and off we went to the mainland of Mindanao. The trip was
relatively safe. The weather was awesomely sunny ;) Quite lucky as
the weather was really great.

Going to Cagayan de Oro
or CDO was by bus. I obviously did not know how to or where to go for
the bus terminal so I just followed around some couple of teachers whom
I've overheard from the jeepney that they are going to CDO for some
seminar workshop. I went along with them riding the three wheeled
pedaled vehicle we called trisikad. It would have been a bicycle if it
has two wheels =)) Inside the terminal, there was one air-conditioned
bus leaving in an hour and an open nature ventilated bus leaving any
minute. I was a bit scared riding the non-air-conditioned bus but I
still had more days so I decided to take it just to be on the safe side
and save some cash. I did not have lunch yet. I was hungry and I only
have one otap with me. I decided to buy three boiled eggs for 20pesos
for lunch ;) Three boiled eggs weren't enough. I just had to sustain
myself with the water I bought from earlier. I just slept and went
along the rugged ride to CDO. I woke up once in a while because of some
noise or commotion around. It was around 3PM when I got into CDO and
found myself in Agora. That's what they call their bus terminal with
some fastfood joints around. I saw jollibee and I did not hesitate for a
single thought and rushed in. I ordered two pieces spicy fried chicken
with rice and coke and also a regular hamburger. Yum yum yum. Late
lunch was amazing ;) The next thing to do was look for a hotel. I did
not know how to go around the city. I knew they had a mall called
Limketkai and I felt that I might find a hotel around. I asked around
how to get there and fortunately people were genuinely nice. I took a
jeepney going to Limketkai. I stroll around the mall to my heart's
content before looking for a place to stay for the next few days. I
went out of Limketkai looking for a hotel and there was one which looked
pricey. I can not afford the place so I walked around and saw an add
that there's this hotel called Dmorvies which was 250 pesos for a
night. They had internet, cable and the room was air-conditioned. I do
not know how to go there somehow, so I flagged a taxi for 50 pesos. I
went inside the hotel, went straight to the receptionist and paid for a
three night stay. I went up to my room and found it to be really
small. I could not ask for more since I had to save a bit. Then
suddenly I realized I was exhausted. After fixing my things, I took an
hour nap. The next activity would be to book for the wild water rafting
so I asked around my friends to look for some contact numbers. It was a
Saturday the next day and I would want the wild water rafting on a
Sunday. I was able to book one for myself at Bugsay. I did not know
where the dowtown area yet so I was in for some exploration. I went
outside and asked around how to go to Xavier University. There were
lots of taxi but I preferred the jeepney. Luckily, I found Xavier. Its
where Bugsay will fetch me for the Sunday trip. It was getting a bit
dark, and I was hungry. I walked around and found Gasiano mall. I had a
huge rice meal at Mang Inasal. Across Gaisano was Centrio an Ayala
mall so I went there as well and went on window shopping. My feet were
obviously aching from the look walks I had earlier. I went out of the
mall and since I do not know how and which jeepney to ride, I took a cab
and flagged for 50 pesos. I was tired. I mulled of not going to
Iligan but it would mean I missed something a lot so I decided to just
get it on. I slept quite late because of the movie series fringe. I
had to sleep already so I willed myself to bed at around 1am. Don't get
me wrong be worried, there was no incantations needed... lols.

The
next day was an Iligan day! I went out of the hotel quite excited. I
did not know how to go there so I asked the hotel staff what jeepney,
which terminal and all that. I found myself alighting at the wrong
place so had to take another jeepney going to the bus terminal. There
was a bus leaving at that moment for Iligan and took my chance. After a
good two hours I guess I found myself in Iligan. The order of the day
was to visit definitely Ma. Christina falls. I do not know how to get
there so I bought a liter of water and asked the guy who sold me that
bottled water. He was really informative but it was confusing. I just
decided to take it one at a time. I found myself in front of Gaisano. I
asked the security guard but he did not know how to go to Ma. Christina
falls. I asked lady and well, I pointed to me the jeepney to ride. I
was so lucky and arrived at the falls just in time. The entrance fee
was very affordable at 45 pesos for non Iliganons which I felt
discriminatory but then it was really cheap so I stopped the complaining
voice inside my head. I saw the river run and I was puzzled where's
the water falls. I asked the security guard and he told me to just wait
he will have to call the service because the actual falls was situated
actually a few minutes away from the garden which was where the service
initially brought us. Oh got so excited to finally meed the water
falls. Indeed I was not wrong. Upon nearing the falls you could hear
the really strong gush of the falls. You can imagine it as a hundred
lions roaring or a herd of wilder beasts migrating. Well the I saw the
falls it was truly magnificent. The sight did not fail me. It cured the
sore feet and aching heels. After spending sometime and cam whoring, I
decided to go on another falls called Tinago, which was nearby. I took
a jeepney again and then a motorbike. You cant complain really as the
fares were inexpensive. It was called Tinago because when its
translated to English it's hidden and really it is. Be warned that the
stairs going down the falls which was hidden from the mountains down was
tough. At times my knees were shaking so I had to stop and rest a
bit. I got a boost when I saw this pregnant woman assisted by her dear
husband and an old lady walking up. Hey I was going down it should be
easier as I convinced myself. I got there finally and the sight is
really nice. The water was freezing cold. there a lot of people mostly
students maybe having their summer vacation. I just dipped myself
along the stony banks. It was satisfying but then it was really really
cold. I enjoyed the sound of the kids playing around who at some point
would climbed up on the sides of the falls and do some somersault.
After enjoying the scenery, it was time to leave for CDO. I took
another motorbike. Since I saw some buses going to CDO, I did not
bother going to the terminal. I just waited in the street. I waited
and waited and then came this jam packed bus bound for CDO. I decided
to take that bus and squeezed myself in. It was a bit terrible and
really uncomfortable but I was fearful actually not to arrive in CDO at
an early time. I still have to prepare for the wild water rafting the
next day. To my surprise, the bus stopped at the bus terminal. I
transferred to another bus which was air conditioned. Since I am
technically an MBA student at Ateneo, I asked for fare discount ;) I
arrived in CDO just the time it would be night time. I was hungry so I
decided to go to Mang Inasal again to have unlimited rice meal. It was
satisfying :D I also had the gory pork blood stew (dugo-dugo in Cebuano
hahaha). I thought I need to bright my phone for tomorrow's wild water
rafting so I had to buy a water proof sling bag. I found one at ROX.
After that, I decided to call it a great day!

The next
day was the wild water rafting day. I went to Xavier University and
waited there for almost an hour. Pick up time was supposedly 7:30. I
arrived there at 6:30 and they picked me up at around 8am. So there,
they fetched me and brought us to their office for registration. I
tasked myself to try the hard or advanced rafting even though it was my
first time. Well the ride was fun, informative and really quite an
adventure. It can give you a dose of adrenaline rush especially when
you volunteer yourself to sit in front while everyone is paddling for
dear life. There were at least 5 or more challenging rapids and some of
my mates fell off the raft. Everyone was safe so no worries there :) I
was dead tired after rafting for 4 hours. The trip from Cagayan river
to the city center was an hour more so it was exhaustion extra
ordinaire. But it's an adventure not to miss :P I went to the mall to
eat and after that went to my hotel and dosed off.

The
next day was my flight back to Cebu. I just took a van from Limketkai
called Magnum going to the airport and suddently I missed a lot about
the places I went to for this adventure. Right now I am planning to go
to Siargao or Coron or Batanes :) Oh I need to win the lottery to go
backpacking again to Europe ;)

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
- Augustine of Hippo

Thursday, June 26, 2014

After that Boracay escapade with new found friends, my energy for
travel hasn't waned yet. Well I was planning for an adventure to the
south of the country. The last vacation I had to Mindanao was when I
was a first grader. It was not a vacation technically but rather to
attend a funeral. It was my first time to ride a plane and a first time
with PAL. Well this time around, yeah in the first to fifth of May, I
had my first solo travel and definitely a bucketlist. I flew to
Camiguin :)

Camiguin is an Island closer to Mindanao
than the Visayas region and the people there speaks Cebuano. It was a
backpack travel. I only had with me my camera, a knapsack, a camera,
some cash, and my roud trip open jaw plane tickets.

I
had to wake up at around 4am on that faithful day. I was excited and
fearful. But my confidence was so high nevertheless to conquer my first
solo travel. I was a bit nervous when I waited for my flight knowing
that the plane I am gonna be in will be a turbo prop type. It was small
and the fact that the flight crew was weighing everyone made it all
jittery. I recalled that before the crew gave me my ticket, she offered
me another ticket round trip, anywhere I like, anytime, if I opted to
cancel my flight. I thought of it for two seconds. Apart of me wanted
to back out but my heart acted on itself and commanded my mouth to say
no. And there you go everything was set on the roll. When it was time
to board, we were fetched by a bus. The sunset was so beautiful; it's
fiery - the kind you see in movies and it jolted my stomach. It was a bit
unexplainable and I suddenly realized to take out my camera to document
this holy journey of mine. I panicked. I couldn't get my camera to
turn on. I checked and the batteries weren't there. I tapped my forehead
a bit as I recalled I was charging my cam to full battery before I left. I did
not lose hope and in my blue pouch I found a dangling wire with the
charger and the battery in it. Such was a great relief. I put in the
battery and began flicking my camera. The bus trip was fast so
I couldn't get hold of any good photo. But I managed to get some few
shots. Right upon this moment, it's my first time to really see the
photos as I was trying to conserve the battery at that time which made
me thought not to browse the photographs I took.

It
was good 30 minutes ride in the plane and I was greeted with Camiguin
airport which was so cute. I do not know where to go when we landed and
the first mission was to find a place where to drop my belongings. I
was not expecting a nice place but then I realized it has to be decent
enough to sleep. I took a motorella its how they called the trike going
to a recommended hotel, GV hotel. I did not have really a lot of time
to look for another place so I said yes to the room which is 450 pesos a
night. I asked the receptionist how to get around and he offered my an
island tour whole day and all the attractions for 800pesos in a
motorbike with a driver. I told him I was not interested in touring all
the spots I just wanted to see the most of the beautiful attractions
there is and so he agreed for 500pesos. I am not that stingy but I try
to negotiate as much as possible. So there, after I put all my
belongings inside my room, changed clothes and took some bites of otap
(biscuits) I went down of the hotel ready and pumped.

Mission
of that day were white island, sunken cemetery, station of the cross,
the ruins and lastly the majestic katibawasan falls. Oops! It is my
first time to learn doing some selfies and I felt I terribly did some
injustice to it. And I was so surprised to eat some sea urchins :P
After the white island adventure I had my first official station of the
cross all the way to the sky as it was on the mountain side. The hike
was tiring, and at times would shook my knees but then I went on and
took the challenge. I went to the ruins of when the volcano in the
island erupted. Then to the sunken cemetery and lastly to ever gorgeous
katibawasan falls.

My Entrecard

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